Discuss Pellegrini....

[TGR]

As they say history is written by the winners. The same goes for the narrative of a match and especially so when the winning manager happens to play the British media like a virtuoso.

Equally you cannot dismiss what we saw as Mourinho being 'one lucky bastard'.

That Chelsea with Matic and Luiz shielding the back four and everyone working their collective bollocks off both physically and mentally were designed to stifle and suffocate the midfield and nullify our attacking potency was widely predicted beforehand and lo it came to pass. We would have known this as well and prepared for it accordingly. That we would be unlikely to change our shape was a pretty sure bet given we invariably play the same setup (to change it from Pellers perspective may have been as simple as not wishing to be seen as 'cautious' at home to Mouinho - just a thought) and lo that came to pass as well with the added bonus of DM and not Ferdy in midfield. Mourinho not only gets the team set up he has prepared for it also contains a fundamental weakness. Jose must have figured it was Christmas and his birthday rolled into one.

The end result is that Jose rolls into town and in one match ends our scoring at home sequence, our 100% record this season, does the double over us (the first since...whenever) and draws level on points rather than facing a 6 point gap. So yes the media are going to indulge in a Jose wankfest. And they have a point. And no it may not be a tactical masterclass but it was brutally effective and that is the point. Yes we could have scored first and yes it may have been different. But we could have scored first in the FA Cup final and we should have had a penalty against Bayern and taken the lead in the first 20 minutes in our first ever CL match away. But we didn't and we got 'Tevezgate' instead. Shit happens and shit happened against Chelsea.

For me though (and again this is just me as no one else seems to care) I started really worrying this would end in tears was the sight of Kompany and Nasty tackling each other in our box. That was bad enough but Kompany's reaction was that of a man not in control of the situation or the match. But then I have a fetish for controlling football matches.

I still think our firepower compared to Chelsea and Arsenal means we will win the PL this year. But Jose is marking Pellers card which is why I think the FA Cup match is important and one we need to win. We just don't want to give Jose or Chelsea any more psychological edge. I said earlier that with Jose its either kill or be killed and the war is just starting. Jose has most of the media in his back pocket and its going to be relentless as the season comes to a head. And next season when he adds a striker or two its going to be 10 times fucking worse.

And if you are still unsure how bad its going to get then just ask Pep.

Top post Bob.

 

[6one]

Correct. When a group of football fans are hopelessly out of step with the opinion of the rest of the footballing world there are only really two possibilities: 1. The rest of the footballing world is wrong. 2. Football fans tend to be a little bit biased. My money is on 2.

We were understrength in the area that you're saying we should have beefed up.

How is that possible?

Milner wasn't fit to play from the beginning. Rodwell is never fit enough.

It was futile to introduce Milner when we were chasing a goal, hence why he wasn't used from the bench.

Ultimately Rodwell was on the bench, and he could have started in a three in place of one of our ineffectual strikers. Jovetic could have been played out wide in a five across the middle. Clichy could have started as left back with Kolarov in front, which would have given us a five in the middle.

I grant you that these may be/appear to be simplistic views, however Chelsea dominance stemmed from City being overrun in the middle, something which a lot of City supporters predicted as soon as they heard Fern was out and Demi was his replacement.

As has been said Rodwell couldn't start v Watford.

He jogs around the pitch trying not to get injured. So no, he could not have started.

 

[carlos tevez is a blue]

Fucking daft sub! If it was Mancini there would be a fucking uproar!

 

[Ban-jani]

Bottler!

 

[Proelia]

Why take a striker of to put kolorov on

 

[carlos tevez is a blue]

Would have walked the league with Jose in charge.

 

[cookster]

Bottler!

This, Keegan is back in town.

 

[King Geedorah]

We have approximately 13 players who fit his style of play, yet his style of play leads to injuries.

That's a recipe for disaster.

I've no doubt with Fernandinho, Aguero and Nasri we would have blown them away but fact of the matter is we're missing key players because the system demands so much intensity.

 

[St Helens Blue (Exiled)]

He got it completely wrong today.
He has been sucked in by Maureens mind games.
Why take Neg off??
Why play Yaya so deep.
Milner-Can we put the myth to bed that he is good enough,cos he fucking isn't.

 

[Damocles]

Post match thread is for post match discussion